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II!  I 


SOCIALISM 

ITS  STRENGTH,  WEAKNESS 
PROBLEMS  AND  FUTURE 


BY 

ALFRED  RAYMOND  JOHNS 


NEWYORK:   EATON   &   MAINS 
CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
ALFUKD   RAYMOND  JOHNS 


[to 


DEDICATED  TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  FATHER, 

ALFRED   JOHNS, 

AND  MY  WIFES  FATHER, 

NEWELL  JAMES  MOORS, 

BOTH, 

ALL  THEIR  LIVES, 

CHRISTIAN  WORKINGMEN. 


1524835 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 7 

Introduction 9 

CHAPTER  I 
Foreword 15 

CHAPTER  II 

What  Socialism  Is  Not 17 

CHAPTER  III 
What  Is  Socialism? 19 

CHAPTER  IV 

Strength   and   Attractiveness  of  Socialism 24 

CHAPTER  V 
Weakness  of  Socialism 32 

CHAPTER  VI 
Problems  of   Socialism 42 

CHAPTER  VII 
Socialism  and  Religion 51 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Socialism  and  the  Liquor  Traffic 60 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Future  of  Socialism 71 

5 


PREFACE 

Every  good  citizen  of  the  United  States  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
The  rights  of  the  common  people  are  as  vital  as 
the  protection  of  infant  industries.  It  is  often 
said  that  the  rich  are  getting  richer  and  the  poor 
poorer.  That  is  only  a  half  truth.  The  rich  are 
getting  richer,  but  so  are  the  poor  getting  richer; 
but  the  rich  are  getting  richer  faster  than  the 
poor;  and  while  the  American  workingman  re- 
ceives the  highest  wage  of  any  toiler,  yet  he  is  not 
able  to  purchase  the  necessities  of  life  to  as  good 
advantage  as  the  workingman  in  some  other 
countries. 

The  relationship  between  capital  and  labor  has 
been  strained  for  generations.  There  is  a  "Land 
of  Eden"  somewhere  in  the  realm  of  figures  where 
just  the  correct  percentage  of  profit  goes  to  each 
side.  But  it  is  difficult  to  discover  the  land.  With 
the  strong  arm  of  power,  capital  grasps  much  more 
than  its  share,  so  labor  declares.  With  the  strong 
arm  of  the  strike  and  boycott,  labor  demands  too 
large  a  share,  so  capital  asserts.     The  common 

7 


8  PREFACE 

ground,  satisfactory  to  both  sides,  is  difficult  to 
discover.  Men  have  struggled  with  the  problem, 
but  the  solution  is  not  found  except  in  isolated 
cases. 

As  one  method  suggested  for  the  solving  of 
nearly  all  social  problems  Socialism  has  been  pre- 
sented by  its  friends.  It  is  a  scheme  to  do  away 
with  both  capital  and  labor  per  se  and  make  every 
person  both  a  capitalist  and  a  laborer.  It  is  a 
large  scheme  when  fully  inaugurated,  and  it  has 
its  advantages;  but  the  question  remains,  Is  it 
practical  ?  With  a  warm  regard  for  the  laboring 
man,  with  which  class  he  spent  all  the  early  years 
of  his  life,  and  with  deep  respect  for  very  many 
strong  and  talented  men  who  have  pushed  industry 
up  into  large  success,  the  writer  sends  out  this 
message  with  an  earnest  desire  that  all  the  good 
features  of  Socialism  may  be  speedily  adopted  by 
the  people  of  the  nation,  but  with  just  as  earnest 
a  prayer  that  we  may  be  saved  from  the  complica- 
tions and  oppressions  which  the  adoption  of  the 
whole  scheme  would  surely  bring  to  us. 

A.  R.  J. 

Flint,  Michigan,  January,  1913. 


INTRODUCTION 

Socialists  insist  that  because  the  church  does 
not  advocate  their  peculiar  economic  system  there- 
fore the  church  is  untrue  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ.  They  declare  that  Socialism  is  merely 
a  practical  expression  of  Christian  ethics  and  the 
evangel  of  Jesus,  and  that  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  primarily  to  establish  a  cooperative  com- 
monwealth which  is  to  be  fully  realized  in  Social- 
ism. They  insist  that  Karl  Marx,  the  founder 
of  modern  Socialism  and  a  hater  of  Christianity, 
more  nearly  presents  the  ideals  of  Jesus  than 
does  any  other  man  who  is  not  a  Socialist,  no 
matter  what  else  he  may  believe. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  nobody  can  prove  from 
Scripture  that  Jesus  was  the  advocate  of  any  social 
system.  He  came  neither  to  establish  an  ideal 
republic  nor  a  Utopian  democracy.  He  came  to 
establish  an  absolute  monarchy,  which  shall  be 
composed  of  all  those  who  acknowledge  his  king- 
ship. 

Only  those  who  are  blinded  by  self-interest  or 
ignorance  would  declare  that  the  present  economic 

9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

system  is  all  that  one  could  desire.  The  United 
States  is  the  greatest  country  in  the  world  so  far 
as  production  is  concerned,  but  in  the  matter  of 
distribution  we  are  not  so  fortunate.  Practically 
all  reformers  agree  with  the  Socialists,  when  they 
portray  the  evils  which  we  are  fighting ;  but  many 
of  them  part  company  when  it  comes  to  advocat- 
ing a  remedy  whereby  these  evils  are  to  be  abol- 
ished. Surely,  the  church  cannot  adopt  and  advo- 
cate Socialism  as  the  only  economic  system 
whereby  society  is  to  be  saved,  because  if  it  were 
to  do  so,  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  the  Christian 
men  in  the  church  who  are  convinced  that  there 
are  other  economic  systems  which  are  more  in 
accord  with  their  ideas  of  social  reform  than  is 
Socialism.  The  church  does  not  exist  primarily 
for  the  purpose  of  advocating  an  economic  system. 
It  gives  every  man  the  right  to  believe  as  he 
chooses  concerning  such  things,  so  long  as  there  is 
nothing  immoral  or  unethical  in  the  program 
Avhich  he  accepts. 

When  the  average  man  says  that  he  is  a  "Chris- 
tian Socialist"  he  means  to  place  the  emphasis 
upon  the  word  "Christian,"  while  the  Socialist, 
who  is  looking  for  his  influence  and  his  vote,  places 
the   emphasis   on   the   word   "Socialist."     Mean- 


INTRODUCTION  11 

while  that  "Christian  Socialist''  is  giving  Social- 
ism the  credit  for  his  Christianity.  There  is  no 
more  reason  why  a  man  should  call  himself  a 
"Christian  Socialist"  than  there  is  that  he  should 
call  himself  a  "Christian  Republican"  or  a 
"Christian  Democrat."  So-called  "Christian 
Socialists"  frequently  try  to  excuse  their  position 
by  appealing  to  the  honored  names  of  Kingsley 
and  others  who  described  their  doctrine,  many 
years  ago,  as  "Christian  Socialism."  These  men 
omit  to  mention  the  fact  that  neither  Maurice  nor 
Kingsley  taught  a  single  principle  or  doctrine  of 
Marxism  or  any  other  kind  of  modern  Socialism. 
As  Professor  Flint  remarks:  "When  they  main- 
tained that  social  organization  must  be  preceded 
by  individual  reformation;  that  trust  in  state  aid 
or  legislation  was  a  superstition;  that  self-help 
was  the  prime  requisite  for  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  the  working  classes ;  that  coopera- 
tion should  be  voluntary  and  accompanied  by 
appropriate  education;  that,  so  far  from  private 
property  being  robbery,  it  was  a  divine  steward- 
ship; and  that  men  could  never  be  joined  by 
brotherhood,  ...  but  must  first  feel  that  they  had 
one  common  Father,  they  struck  at  the  very  roots 
of  Socialism." 


12  INTRODUCTION 

What,  then,  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  church 
toward  Socialism  \  While  the  church  cannot 
accept  and  advocate  Socialism,  it  recognizes  the 
following  facts : 

First,  that  a  man  has  a  perfect  right  to  be  a 
Socialist,  if  he  is  convinced  that  Socialism  is  mor- 
ally and  economically  sound. 

Second,  that  it  is  quite  possible  for  a  man  to 
be  a  Christian  and  a  Socialist  too.  There  are 
certain  forms  of  Socialism  which  are  not  antag- 
onistic to  Christianity,  although  it  should  be 
remembered  that  there  is  no  necessary  relation- 
ship  between  the  two — one  being  an  economic 
system  and  the  other  a  religion. 

Third,  the  church  does  not  stand  for  the  present 
economic  system.  It  stands  only  for  so  much  of  it 
as  is  in  accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  by 
Jesus  Christ.  The  economic  system  under  which 
we  are  living  is  not  ideal.  There  is  much  in  it 
which  must  be  remedied,  and  good  men  everywhere 
must  seek  to  bring  about  a  fairer  condition  in  be- 
half of  the  toilers.  This  will  never  be  accom- 
plished by  soup-kitchens  and  bread-lines.  Work- 
ingmen  demand  justice,  and  they  are  right. 

Fourth,  the  church  does  not  preach  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  order  to  make  men  satisfied 


INTRODUCTION  13 

with  their  present  economic  condition,  nor  because 
they  desire  to  offer  it  as  a  mere  sop.  It  does  not 
preach  this  gospel,  fearful  lest  workingmen  are 
about  to  bring  about  a  great  revolution,  but  it 
preaches  the  same  gospel  with  all  of  its  hopes  and 
aspirations,  as  well  as  its  duties  and  obligations  to 
workingmen  and  employers  alike. 

Charles  Stelzle. 
New  York  City,  February,  1013. 


CHAPTEK  I 
Foreword 

When  Karl  Marx  issued  his  volumes  on  Cap- 
ital, about  1848,  he  laid  the  foundations  upon 
which  Socialism  has  been  constructed.  His  ideas 
rooted  in  Germany,  and  when  he  was  exiled  to 
England  he  carried  with  him  the  principles  of 
Socialism,  and  shortly  they  were  finding  a  lodg- 
ing place  in  the  minds  of  the  working  classes  there. 
Soon  they  were  winning  a  hearing  in  France, 
Austria,  and  Italy,  but  they  did  not  find  much 
favor  in  the  United  States  until  many  years  later, 
and  it  is  only  within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years 
that  Socialism  has  attracted  any  particular  atten- 
tion here.  I  shall  have  very  little  to  say  regarding 
the  Socialism  of  Europe,  but  shall  confine  the 
discussion  almost  entirely  to  its  growth  and  char- 
acteristics in  America. 

The  Socialistic  vote  in  the  United  States  has 

been  as  follow? : 

1892 21,164 

1896 36,274 

1900 87,814 

1904 402,283 

1908 420,464 

1912 900,672 

15 


16  SOCIALISM 

Leading  Socialists  proclaim  that  were  it  not  for 
the  organization  of  the  new  party  in  1912  their 
vote  would  have  swept  far  past  the  million  mark, 
and  they  are  freely  predicting  that  within  a  com- 
paratively few  years  they  will  have  control  of 
Congress  and  a  President  in  the  White  House. 

Professor  Iloxie,  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
claims  that  there  are  now  over  a  thousand  Social- 
ists holding  office  in  thirty-six  different  States,  and 
that  there  are  fifty  cities  with  Socialistic  mayors, 
and  three  hundred  towns  which  have  one  or  more 
aldermen  belonging  to  the  party. 

Socialism  is  therefore  so  strong  that  every 
citizen  should  be  informed  regarding  it.  This  is 
an  attempt  at  a  sane,  practical,  unprejudiced  dis- 
cussion of  what  Socialism  really  is,  and  the  results 
that  would  follow  should  it  ever  be  adopted. 


CHAPTER  II 

What  Socialism  Is  iSTot 

There  are  serious  misapprehensions  concern- 
ing Socialism  in  the  minds  of  many  people.  Some 
associate  it  with  communism,  anarchism,  or  even 
nihilism.  It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  real 
Socialism  has  little  or  nothing  in  common  with 
any  of  them.  Nihilism  is  negative,  destructive, 
annihilative,  and  has  no  constructive  policy  what- 
ever. Anarchism  advocates  entire  lack  of  either 
law  or  government.  It  denies  the  right  of  govern- 
ment to  govern,  and  argues  that  society  has  no 
rights  over  the  individual.  The  red  flag  of 
anarchism  means  blood,  war,  riot,  while  the  red 
flag  of  Socialism  is  intended  to  typify  the  rich, 
red  blood  of  a  common  brotherhood.  Communism 
seeks  a  condition  of  society  where  everything  is 
held  in  common,  or  where  there  is  as  absolute  a 
condition  of  equality  as  can  possibly  be,  even  to 
common  ownership  of  income.  Socialism  holds 
for  individual  incomes.  Socialism  has  much  in 
common  with  communism,  but  it  is  not  commun- 
ism.   The  old  story  illustrates  the  point : 

17 


18  SOCIALISM 

Pat  asked  Mike  what  Socialism  was. 

"Does  it  mane  whin  yez  hav  two  houses  yez  will 
giv  me  wan  ?" 

"Sure,"  said  Mike. 

"Does  it  mane  whin  yez  hav  two  cows  yez  will 
giv  me  wan  ?" 

"Sure,"  again  replied  Mike. 

"Does  it  mane  whin  yez  hav  two  pigs  yez  will 
giv  me  wan  ?"  asked  Pat. 

"O,  go  on  wid  yez,"  said  Mike;  "yez  know  I've 
got  two  pigs." 

Now,  the  men  were  discussing  communism,  and 
not  Socialism,  although  many  people  confuse  the 
two.  The  aim  and  purpose  of  Socialism,  as 
defined  by  its  advocates,  is  to  produce  a  condition 
of  society  that  wall  prevent  both  dire  poverty  and 
inordinate  private  wealth;  and  while  Socialism 
has  a  communistic  tendency,  there  is  no  disposi- 
tion to  have  the  rich  divide  with  the  poor  directly. 
The  purpose  is  to  bring  about  such  a  condition  of 
society  that  no  person  could  be  either  very  rich  or 
very  poor. 


CHAPTER  III 
What  Is  Socialism  ? 

It  is  not  easy  to  answer  this  question,  for 
Socialism  is  an  intricate  scheme  and  assumes 
somewhat  different  forms  in  separate  places. 
Primarily,  it  is  an  industrial  movement,  and  it  is 
this  phase  of  the  propaganda  that  should  be  cred- 
ited with  the  responsibility  for  its  growth.  The 
following  is  often  given  as  a  short,  terse  defini- 
tion :  "Socialism  is  the  collective  ownership  of  all 
the  social  means  of  production,  distribution,  and 
exchange  and  the  democratic  management  of  the 
same." 

The  Socialists  object  to  the  term  "government 
ownership,"  and  much  prefer  the  expression, 
"collective  ownership,"  or  ownership  by  all  of  the 
people.  The  following  quotation  from  one  of  their 
newspapers  gives  their  own  definition  of  what 
Socialism  is: 

1.  Collective  ownership  of  the  means  of  producing  and 
distributing  wealth,  such  as  mines,  lands,  factories,  rail- 
roads, mail,  express,  telegraph,  and  telephone  service, 
light,   water,  and   heating   plants,  etc.,  so   that  private 

19 


20  SOCIALISM 

monopoly,  giaft,  and  extortion  would  be  impossible, 
and  rent,  interest,  and  profit  will  be  abolished,  and  all 
may  have  the  full  product  of  their  labor. 

2.  Private  ownership  of  wealth,  such  as  homes,  ve- 
hicles, furniture,  books,  pictures,  etc.,  according  to  the 
value  of  one's  labor.  Socialism  means  the  public  owner- 
ship of  capital,  the  private  ownership  of  the  products 
of  one's  labor;  the  public  ownership  of  the  means  of 
life;   the  private  ownership  of  life  itself. 

3.  Direct  legislation  through  the  initiative,  referendum, 
and  imperative  recall,  so  that  the  people  themselves 
may  rule  promptly  as  they  please  in  spite  of  councils, 
Legislatures,  Congresses,  or  courts. 

4.  A  new  system  of  money,  issued  by  the  government 
alone  and  limited  so  that  it  will  be  a  true  medium  of 
exchange  only,  not  a  medium  of  exploitation  as  now. 

The  basic  principles  of  Socialism  are  contained 
in  the  first  two  statements  above.  The  last  two  are 
merely  corollaries.  Professor  Richard  T.  Ely  has 
given  ns  four  important  principles  of  Socialism  in 
his  volume  on  Socialism  and  Social  Reform.  He 
says,  first  it  means  "Common  ownership  of  the 
material  instruments  of  production."  All  Social- 
ists agree  on  this.  The  moment  anything  serves 
as  a  means  of  income  that  moment  the  state  must 
step  in  and  own  that  thing,  whatever  it  is.  At 
the  present  time  the  government,  for  the  people, 
owns  the  Panama  Canal,  the  lakes  and  rivers,  the 
highways,  the  mail  system,  the  public  schools,  the 


WHAT  IS  SOCIALISM?  21 

army  and  navy,  and  oftentimes  public  buildings 
used  for  public  purposes,  such  as  armories,  post 
offices,  courthouses,  city  halls,  etc.  As  Socialism 
prevails,  the  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  gas 
and  water  plants,  railroads,  mines,  factories, 
shops,  farms,  stores,  and  everything  producing 
wealth,  or  where  wealth  is  produced,  would  all 
come  under  the  control  and  ownership  of  the  state, 
and  the  state  would  be  the  only  employer  of  labor 
in  the  country.  That  is  the  first  and  most  impor- 
tant principle  of  Socialism. 

The  second  principle  of  Socialism,  according 
to  Professor  Ely,  is,  "Common  management  in 
production."  This  means  supervision  and  state 
authority  over  every  factory,  mine,  shop,  farm, 
office,  store,  or  other  place  where  labor  is  per- 
formed or  man  or  woman  employed.  It  must 
include  restaurants,  hotels,  rooming  houses,  barber 
shops,  bowling  alleys,  rinks,  theaters,  circuses, 
and  everything  else  which  human  ingenuity  has 
devised  as  a  method  of  earning  a  livelihood.  As 
there  could  be  no  private  property  producing  an 
income,  every  person  would  have  to  be  employed 
at  some  task  in  order  to  provide  himself  a  living, 
and  thus  every  person  would  be  in  the  employ  of 
the  people  and  working  for  the  government. 


22  SOCIALISM 

The  third  principle  of  Socialism,  according  to 
Professor  Ely,  is,  "Distribution  of  income  by  the 
common  authority."  That,  of  course,  would  fol- 
low from  the  other  two  principles.  Xo  person  or 
corporation  could  have  any  employees  except  the 
government,  and  the  state  would  have  to  see  that 
every  j)erson  had  some  employment  from  which  he 
would  receive  sufficient  income  in  order  to  live. 
As  women  take  their  place  by  the  side  of  men  as 
equals  in  every  way  under  Socialism,  the  govern- 
ment would  have  to  provide  work  and  an  income 
for  every  woman  as  well  as  for  every  man.  Early 
in  their  propaganda  the  Socialists  argued  that,  no 
matter  what  the  work,  all  incomes  should  be  equal. 
That  seemed  to  be  ideal  and  brotherly.  The  diffi- 
culties which  that  theory  led  them  into,  however, 
have  finally  compelled  them  to  modify  the  plan, 
and  now  very  few  of  them  argue  for  an  equal 
wage. 

The  fourth  principle  of  Socialism,  according 
to  Professor  Ely,  is,  "Private  property  in  the  larg- 
est proportion  of  income."  By  that  is  meant  that 
each  person  would  have  the  spending  of  his  own 
money,  and  have  absolute  ownership  of  his  per- 
sonal property  as  long  as  he  did  not  use  it  as  a 
source  of  revenue.    Whenever  any  personal  pro])- 


WHAT  IS  SOCIALISM?  23 

erty  becomes  a  source  of  revenue  the  state  would 
have  to  assume  control  of  it.  A  man  might  own 
his  own  house  under  Socialism,  but  he  could  not 
rent  a  room  in  it,  nor  take  a  boarder,  for  that 
would  be  a  private  source  of  wealth,  which  is 
entirely  contrary  to  the  very  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Socialism.  The  state  will  have  to  pro- 
vide homes  and  rooms  for  all  who  need  them,  and 
restaurants  and  hotels  for  all  who  apply. 

While  Socialism  is  not  communism,  yet  the 
ideals  of  Socialism  are  that  there  shall  not  be 
great  differences  between  people  in  either  wages, 
incomes,  homes,  or  conditions  of  living.  The  fol- 
lowing definition  of  Socialism,  given  by  Dr. 
Stelzle,  is  absolutely  correct:  "Socialism  is  the 
ownership  by  the  people  of  all  the  means  of  pro- 
duction, distribution,  and  exchange,  democratic- 
ally administered."    That  is  Socialism. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Strength  and  Attractiveness  of 
Socialism 

The  very  growth  of  Socialism  is  sufficient  proof 
that  it  has  attractiveness. 

1.  One  of  the  greatest  sources  of  its  strength  is 
that  it  has  a  program  which  includes  every  man, 
woman,  and  child,  and  presents  a  theory  of  living 
which  guarantees  to  solve  the  problem  for  every- 
one. Anvthinc;  that  advertises  to  do  that  will 
attract  attention  and  gain  followers,  for  the  prob- 
lem of  making  a  living  is  a  serious  one  to  most 
people.  There  have  been  a  good  many  plans 
launched  to  help  a  few  people,  or  some  people,  or 
certain  classes  of  people,  but  never  before  a  scheme 
to  lift  up  a  whole  nation  and  a  world.  Insurance 
companies  are  an  aid  to  those  who  are  protected  by 
their  policies ;  secret  societies  reach  out  a  helping 
hand  to  those  who  are  members  of  the  particular 
order;  trades  unions  plan  to  be  an  aid  to  those  who 
join ;  but  Socialism  comes  with  a  scheme  for  wip- 
ing out  the  slums  and  poor  tenements,  for  anni- 
hilating poverty  and  raising  the  submerged  tenth, 

24 


STRENGTH  OF  SOCIALISM  25 

for  unseating  the  plutocrats  and  destroying  the 
caste  and  class  idea,  and  for  making  the  nation, 
and  finally  the  world,  one  big  family  of  brothers 
and  sisters,  all  on  a  common  level — the  children 
of  a  multimillionaire  paternal  government ! 

Such  a  scheme  is  attractive  to  many  people,  for 
most  folks  are  struggling  at  great  odds  for  a  liveli- 
hood, and  the  materials  for  to-morrow's  dinner  are 
nowhere  in  sight.  Many  people  feel  themselves  to 
be  the  under  dog  in  a  very  unequal  fight,  and  the 
future  looks  dark  and  hopeless.  The  very  poor 
and  the  moderately  poor  compose  the  majority  of 
the  population.  The  rainy  day  is  coming,  and 
there  is  no  financial  umbrella  in  the  savings  bank 
which  can  be  used  to  keep  off  the  rain  in  the 
approaching  storm. 

To  such  Socialism  comes  with  its  roseate-hued 
pictures  of  ease  and  plenty  and  the  proletariat 
cry,  "A  master  artist  has  come!"  As  dry,  desert 
sands  absorb  water,  so  the  poor  drink  in  the  mes- 
sage of  Socialism.  It  places  women  on  an  equal 
plane  with  men ;  it  has  a  plan  for  retiring  people 
at  about  sixty  years  of  age  upon  a  comfortable 
pension  ;  it  guarantees  to  provide  liberally  for  the 
aged,  crippled,  infirm,  feeble,  and  all  those  unable 
to  provide   for   themselves,   and   as  the  soap-box 


26  SOCIALISM 

orator  proclaims  such  things  he  makes  converts 
rapidly. 

2.  Then  Socialism  is  a  scheme  for  preventing 
the  tremendous  waste  of  competition.  Under  our 
present  system  this  waste  is  immeasurably  appall- 
ing. The  railroads  furnish  a  striking  example. 
Professor  Ely  estimates  that  the  competitive  lines 
between  Chicago  and  Xcw  York  alone  have  cost 
$200,000,000  to  build  and  equip,  or  sufficient  to 
erect  200,000  homes  at  a  cost  of  $1,000  each! 
The  running  expenses  of  competing  lines  entail  a 
continuous  waste.  In  our  country  alone  the  waste 
in  building  and  equipping  railroads  has  run  into 
an  estimated  thousand  million  of  dollars,  or  suffi- 
cient to  provide  a  comfortable  home  for  every 
person  in  the  land  ! 

But  railroads  arc  only  one  source  of  this  waste 
in  competition.  A  similar  drain,  if  not  as  large, 
is  found  everywhere.  Competing  telegraph  and 
telephone  lines,  gas  works,  factories  manufactur- 
ing stoves,  furnaces,  furniture,  vehicles,  glass, 
crockery,  and  clothing  all  add  to  the  waste.  Each 
article  must  be  advertised ;  traveling  men  must  go 
from  place  to  place  at  large  expense  to  sell,  and 
we  have  a  thousand  stores  and  merchants  engaged 
in    business    where    a    few    could    supply    every 


STRENGTH  OF  SOCIALISM  27 

demand  of  the  public  if  conveniently  located  and 
organized.  A  dozen  milkmen  cross  and  recross  a 
city,  taking  the  time  and  labor  of  three  men  where 
one  man  would  do  were  the  routes  systematized. 
All  this  cost  of  manufacturing,  advertising,  sell- 
ing, delivering,  maintaining  must  be  paid  even- 
tually by  the  consumer — and  it  is  pure  waste! 
The  trend  of  modern  business  methods  is  toward 
concentration.  Ten  thousand  articles  can  be 
made  at  a  smaller  cost  per  article  than  a  hundred. 

Under  Socialism  every  article  of  commerce 
would  be  manufactured  in  central  factories  in 
large  quantities  and  distributed  from  the  factories 
directly  to  retail  dealers.  There  would  be  no 
competition  in  either  manufacture  or  sale,  there- 
fore no  need  of  advertising,  salesmen,  or  middle- 
men. The  scheme  looks  quite  ideal  on  paper,  and 
soimds  well  from  the  street  corner.  The  Social- 
ists also  claim  that  there  would  be  no  waste  from 
strikes,  lockouts,  shutdowns,  riots,  etc.,  where  now 
millions  of  dollars  are  worse  than  lost. 

3.  A  third  source  of  the  strength  of  Socialism 
is  in  its  scheme  for  a  more  equal  division  of  the 
world's  wealth,  preventing  vast  riches  on  the  one 
hand  and  dire  poverty  on  the  other.  Everyone 
will  freely  admit  that  there  is  much  that  is  unsatis- 


28  SOCIALISM 

factory  in  our  present  distribution.  Here  is  a 
gilded  youth,  the  son  of  a  rich  father,  who  races 
through  the  town  in  a  big  red  automobile,  and  who 
spends  a  thousand  dollars  in  one  night  in  a  drink- 
ing and  gambling  debauch  with  like  companions 
and  fast  women.  His  life  is  a  stench  to  the  com- 
munity, and  he  has  never  done  an  honest  day's 
work  in  his  life  nor  earned  an  honest  dollar. 
Over  there  is  a  beautiful  girl  with  latent  talent  for 
culture  and  refinement,  but  she  is  compelled  to 
stand  behind  a  counter  for  nine  hours  a  day  for 
six  days  of  the  week  in  order  to  earn  the  five 
dollars  which  will  make  possible  her  support,  when 
added  to  the  aid  received  from  her  father.  All 
that  is  holy  within  us  revolts  at  the  injustice,  but 
the  injustice  continues.  If  there  is  any  remedy, 
under  our  present  system,  it  has  not  yet  been  dis- 
covered and  applied. 

Under  Socialism  there  will  doubtless  be  gilded 
youths,  but  the  fathers  will  not  be  millionaires! 
Fast  young  men  will  have  some  work  to  do  in 
order  to  earn  a  living,  for  the  theory  is  a  man  for 
every  job  and  a  job  for  every  man.  There  will  be 
no  "Weary  Willies"  around  at  the  back  door  beg- 
ging for  a  "handout,"  neither  will  there  be  any 
still  more  "Weary  Willies"  in  the  front  parlor 


STRENGTH  OF  SOCIALISE!  29 

gushing  small  talk  with  the  "Languid  Lillians" — 
idle  daughters  of  the  idle  rich — for  every  woman 
must  also  work  if  she  wrould  live.  Of  course,  with 
the  short  hours  of  labor  promised,  there  will  be 
much  time  for  visiting  and  social  intercourse,  but 
each  person  will  be  a  laborer !  The  Bible  teaches 
that  if  a  man  will  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat, 
and  it  is  wholesome  doctrine.  The  world  is  no 
place  for  a  young  man  with  muscle  and  brains  who 
is  "retired"  and  living  as  a  parasite  upon  the 
interest  of  the  capital  his  father  wrested  from  the 
sweat  of  other  generations  even  though  the  father 
himself  did  sweat  in  order  to  win. 

Socialism  looks  with  great  disfavor  upon  the 
legacy  and  recommends  that  all  estates  be  absorbed 
by  the  government  in  three  or  four  generations, 
by  a  heavy  inheritance  tax.  It  thus  would  bring 
an  end  to  the  capitalist  class,  make  every  man  a 
toiler  of  some  kind,  uplift  the  submerged  classes, 
and  bring  in  a  true  brotherhood.  At  least  it  says 
it  will,  and  that  is  a  source  of  its  strength. 

4.  Socialism  disapproves  of  lavish  personal  ex- 
penditures and  approves  of  generous  public  appro- 
priations. Under  its  regime  the  individual  must 
live  simply,  for  he  will  not  have  wealth  to 
squander;  but  the  state,  being  rich,  may  spend 


30  SOCIALISM 

lavishly  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people.  There 
will  be  parks,  playgrounds,  libraries,  drives,  walks, 
schools,  halls,  gymnasiums,  baths,  clubs,  social 
centers,  recreation  grounds,  and  everything  that 
money  can  buy,  that  all  the  people  may  have  pleas- 
ure, comfort,  and  conveniences.  To-day  only  the 
rich  man  has  his  club;  the  poor  must  be  content 
with  the  saloon.  Socialism  pictures  every  person 
with  his  club,  or  some  public  building  that  answers 
the  same  purpose,  and  with  scores  of  other  con- 
veniences for  comfort  and  amusement,  and  that  is 
attractive  to  very  many. 

5.  Then  Socialism  claims  to  have  the  only  solu- 
tion of  some  of  the  most  vexed,  problems  of  the 
day,  such  as  taxation,  child-labor,  hours  of  labor, 
compulsory  education,  prostitution,  difficulties  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  etc.  If  it  would  work 
out  as  many  of  its  advocates  expect,  many  of  these 
problems  would  be  settled ;  but  some  of  them  are 
as  old  as  the  human  race,  and  will  not  yield  a  solu- 
tion even  to  Socialism,  as  we  shall  try  and  show 
a  little  further  along. 

6.  Socialists  are  bitter  opponents  of  war.  It  is 
estimated  that  it  costs  the  nations  $8,000,000,000 
annually  to  be  prepared  for  war,  to  say  nothing  of 
the   men   it  withdraws  from    productive  employ- 


STRENGTH  OF  SOCIALISM  31 

ment.  Socialism  advocates  peace  and  the  settling 
of  all  international  questions  by  arbitration.  If 
the  time  ever  comes  when  the  working  classes 
refuse  to  fight,  wars  must  cease,  for  the  capitalist 
class  have  no  desire  to  undertake  the  dangers  of 
war  unless  in  positions  of  rank.  Then  they  are 
far  too  few  to  make  an  army.  As  long  as  kings 
and  emperors  can  secure  recruits  from  the  work- 
ingmen  there  may  be  wars ;  but  if  the  time  ever 
comes  when  kings  and  emperors  must  themselves 
settle  their  difficulties  with  pistols  at  fifty  yards, 
or  submit  to  arbitration,  there  is  no  question  as  to 
which  method  would  prevail.  More  and  more 
civilized  nations  are  coming  to  abhor  war  as  bar- 
barous, expensive,  sinful,  indefensible,  and  the 
Socialists  have  struck  a  popular  note  when  they 
say,  "We  will  not  fight."  These  are  some  of  the 
reasons  Socialism  has  grown  so  remarkably  during 
the  last  few  years.  Jane  T.  Stoddart  sums  up  the 
strength  of  Socialism  in  these  three  statements : 

1.  "In  the  honor  it  puts  upon  labor." 

2.  "In    the    lofty    motive    it    sets    before    the 
worker." 

3.  "In  the  shield  it  throws  over  the  weak  things 
of  the  world." 


CHAPTER  V 

Weakness  of  Socialism 

Even  the  most  frenzied  advocates  of  Socialism 
admit  that  there  are  some  weaknesses  and  some 
unsolved  problems.  While  many  of  the  theories 
of  Socialism  seem  attractive,  yet,  when  analyzed, 
the  whole  scheme  is  so  impractical  and  so  impos- 
sible, should  an  attempt  be  made  to  carry  it  out, 
that  its  failure  is  unquestioned.  Like  Populism, 
it  will  have  its  day  and  die ;  but  many  of  the  more 
sane  principles  will  gradually  be  adopted  by  other 
parties  and  finally  by  the  people. 

1.  Perhaps  the  first  thing  that  should  be  men- 
tioned as  a  weakness  of  Socialism  is  that  it  could 
never  produce  the  actual  ideal  conditions  which  its 
advocates  promise.  Their  speakers  proclaim  and 
their  literature  is  full  of  descriptions  of  a  time 
coming  when  everyone  shall  be  happy,  have  plenty, 
work  only  six  hours  a  day,  and  receive  not  less 
than  $2,000  a  year,  with  the  cost  of  living  very 
low,  and  when  everybody  shall  have  the  luxuries 
and  delicacies  that  now  are  enjoyed  by  the  compar- 
ative few. 

32 


WEAKNESS  OF  SOCIALISM  33 

Of  course  that  can  never  be.  Professor  Carl 
E.  Perry,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  is  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  the  average  wage  of  the 
laboring  man  in  the  United  States  is  about  five 
hundred  dollars  per  year;  and  that  if  all  the 
incomes  of  all  the  people  in  the  country  were 
jjoolcd  and  then  equally  divided,  each  person 
would  receive  but  about  six  hundred  dollars  per 
year.  Now,  such  an  income  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  buy  the  real  necessities,  let  alone  luxuries  and 
delicacies,  even  though  there  were  a  large  reduc- 
tion in  the  price  of  materials. 

The  story  is  told  that  once  an  anarchist  went  to 
Rothschild  demanding  money.  The  banker  took 
twenty-five  pounds  from  his  safe  and  gave  it  to 
the  man,  remarking  as  he  did,  "Here  is  your  share 
of  the  world's  wealth ;  go  away  and  never  complain 
again;  you  have  your  part."  I  presume  the  story 
is  not  true,  but  the  figures  are  accurate;  and  it 
shows  that  an  even  distribution  of  wealth  would 
not  make  everybody  rich. 

Socialists  complain  that  some  people  have  meat, 
strawberries  and  cream,  plum-puddings,  quail-on- 
toast,  etc.,  while  others  live  on  cornbread  or  rice. 
Some  people  dress  in  silks  and  satins,  ride  in  auto- 
mobiles  and  have   servants   to   wait    upon   them, 


g  t  SOCIALISE! 

while  others  have  none  of  these  things.  But  they 
promise  all  of  these  things  and  more  when  Social- 
ism comes.  But  it  is  easy  to  see  that  if  working- 
men's  wages  are  multiplied  by  four,  and  the  hours 
of  labor  divided  by  two,  it  would  mean  the  cost  of 
production  would  advance  to  eight  times  the  pres- 
ent schedule;  and  even  should  all  profits  be  elim- 
inated, still  the  cost  of  produce  would  be  far,  far 
in  advance  of  the  present  scale.  Then,  a  little 
serious  thinking  along  other  lines  will  show  their 
promises  to  be  idle  dreams.  There  is  not  enough 
meat  produced,  nor  strawberries  raised,  nor  silk 
manufactured  so  that  all  people  can  have  them. 
And  there  never  can  be.  Larger  quantities  of 
meat  can  be  produced  only  by  giving  up  larger 
sections  of  land  for  grazing.  But  land  for  graz- 
ing is  becoming  less  available  with  each  passing 
year.  While  the  population  increased  twenty- 
one  per  cent  last  year,  the  cattle  supply  increased 
only  eight  per  cent.  There  never  can  be  suffi- 
cient luxuries  produced  so  that  everybody  could 
have  them.  It  may  be  argued  that  delicacies 
would  be  distributed  more  equitably  under  Social- 
ism. But  that  spoils  the  picture  they  paint  of 
conditions  under  their  rule,  and  it  would  mean 
dissatisfaction  and  unrest  should  Socialism  prevail. 


WEAKNESS  OF  SOCIALISM  35 

There  could  never  be  much  luxury  and  ease 
under  Socialism,  for  servants  and  service  are 
always  essential  to  easy  living.  The  rich  in  this 
age  live  in  luxury  because  they  are  able  to  pro- 
cure service.  Under  Socialism  carried  out  to 
completion  there  will  be  no  service  because  there 
will  be  no  servant  class.  Every  man  will  have  to 
do  his  own  work — polish  his  own  shoes,  empty  his 
own  ash-barrel,  spade  his  own  garden,  milk  his 
own  cow,  drive  his  own  automobile,  mow  his  own 
lawn,  put  up  his  own  stove  pipes,  and  keep  the 
snow  from  his  sidewalks.  Every  woman  will  have 
to  wash  her  own  dishes,  sweep  her  own  house,  dust 
her  own  furniture,  polish  her  own  stove,  for  there 
will  be  no  hired  man  nor  servant-girl,  for  every- 
body will  be  in  the  employ  of  the  government. 
When  an  aristocratic  Englishman  saw  President 
Lincoln  polishing  his  own  shoes  he  said,  "In 
England  gentlemen  do  not  polish  their  own  boots." 
"Indeed,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  "then,  pray  whose 
boots  do  they  polish  ?"  I  am  not  arguing  that 
there  should  be  a  servant  class,  but  I  am  saying 
that  dreams  of  ease  or  luxury  without  a  servant 
class  are  idle,  idle  dreams. 

In  Edward  Bellamy's  interesting  book,  Look- 
ing Backward,  which  pretends  to  describe  condi- 


36  SOCIALISM 

tiona  under  Socialism,  T)r.  Leete's  family  seem  to 
be  having  a  very  ideal  time.  When  they  are 
hungry  they  go  out  to  a  meal;  when  they  want 
music  either  day  or  night  they  turn  the  spigot  and 
it  is  forthcoming.  The  doctor  and  Miss  Edith  sit 
around  the  house,  or  go  strolling  or  riding,  and 
Mr.  West  has  a  fine,  idle  time  with  them,  and  con- 
cludes Socialism  is  a  great  thing.  But  "Bellamy 
does  not  tell  us  who  peeled  the  potatoes  they  had 
for  their  dinner;  nor  who  cooked  the  squash  and 
waited  upon  the  table,  or  washed  the  dishes  after- 
ward, lie  doesn't  tell  us  who  were  the  musicians 
who  were  playing  upon  instruments  day  and  night 
in  order  that  they  might  be  entertained.  He  does 
not  take  us  on  a  trip  through  the  factories  where 
the  materials  were  produced  that  were  for  sale  in 
the  ward  stores,  nor  does  he  describe  the  life  of 
the  clerks  who  sold  the  goods  or  the  men  who 
delivered  them.  He  doesn't  say  who  cleaned  the 
streets,  stoked  the  furnaces,  or  ran  the  streetcars. 
Dr.  Lcete  was  evidently  passed  sixty,  so  he  was 
retired  on  an  annuity,  but  Bellamy  does  not  say 
why  it  was  Miss  Edith  was  lolling  around  home 
permitting  Mr.  West  to  fall  in  love  with  her 
instead  of  being  off  all  day,  or  even  six  hours  a 
day,  in  some  factory  weaving  calico,  rolling  cigars, 


1<- 


WEAKNESS  OF  SOCIALISM  37 

or  washing  the  windows  in  the  basement  of  some 
one  of  Uncle  Sam's  numerous  public  buildings. 
Some  women  will  have  to  be  doing  those  things 
under  Socialism — why  not  Miss  Edith  Leete, 
please  ?  For  Socialism  is  no  respecter  of  persons ! 
There  are  a  good  many  questions  some  people 
would  like  to  ask  Bellamy  were  he  alive  to  answer 
them.  The  world's  work  will  have  to  be  done  even 
under  Socialism  and  there  are  unnumbered  dis- 
agreeable tasks. 

2.  Another  weakness  of  Socialism  is  its  utter 
inability  to  solve  the  agricultural  problem,  when 
all  lands  come  under  government  management. 
We  have  much  land.  Certain  sections  are  adapted 
to  certain  crops.  But  how  could  the  state  possibly 
run  and  control  all  farms  ?  How  could  the  govern- 
ment regulate  hours  of  labor  on  a  farm  ?  or  how 
secure  the  crops  ?  or  how  prevent  the  use  of  the 
products  by  the  farmers  ?  or  how  see  that  the  prod- 
ucts were  saved  and  sold  to  the  best  advantage  ? 

It  would  mean  that  every  twenty-acre  plot 
would  have  to  have  a  watchman,  and  every  watch- 
man would  need  to  be  watched.  Large  factories 
can  produce  articles  cheaper  than  small  factories, 
but  large  farms  have  not  proved  as  economical  to 
work  as  small  farms.     Socialists  have  struggled 


38  SOCIALISM 

and  strained  over  the  problem  of  agriculture  from 
the  beginning,  and  it  is  no  nearer  solution  now 
than  it  was  in  the  day  dreams  of  Karl  Marx  in 
1848. 

3.  Another  weakness  of  Socialism  is  that  it  has 
little  place  in  its  regime  for  men  of  special  ability 
and  peculiar  talents,  such  as  poets,  writers,  in- 
ventors, musicians,  artists,  actors,  organizers,  and 
captains  of  industry.  It  seems  attractive  to  the 
man  who  works  with  his  hands,  but  it  offers  noth- 
ing to  the  man  who  works  with  his  brains.  Indeed, 
there  is  little  incentive  to  mental  ingenuity. 
Under  our  present  system  nearly  every  man  who 
achieved  greatness  has  pushed  his  way  up  from  the 
bottom.  Nearly  every  great  man  was  once  a  poor 
boy.  The  very  struggle  was  a  part  of  the  secret 
of  his  success.  The  most  of  the  great  poets  and 
painters  persevered  notwithstanding  the  opposi- 
tion of  parents  and  friends.  Inventors  have  strug- 
gled on  through  poverty  and  starved  their  way  to 
success.  The  great  musicians  and  actors  have 
fairly  forced  their  way  up  and  compelled  fame  to 
capitulate  to  them.  But  what  would  be  the  condi- 
tions under  Socialism  ? 

The  Socialistic  state  is  pledged  to  help  every 
person  to  his  peculiar  bent,  to  aid  him  to  succeed. 


WEAKNESS  OF  SOCIALISM  39 

At  the  present  time  there  are  usually  a  score  of 
young  people  who  think  they  have  special  talent 
where  there  is  one  who  really  has.  Under  Social- 
ism the  number  of  applicants  for  honors  will  be 
tremendously  increased.  Shall  the  state  support 
them  while  they  attempt  success?  To-day  the 
world  swings  on  its  way  indifferent  to  latent 
genius.  Only  those  who  know  they  will  win  con- 
tinue to  try  to  win.  The  others  drop  by  the  way- 
side. Who  will  say  but  that  the  very  struggles 
necessary  form  an  important  part  of  the  ladder 
up  Avhich  they  climb  to  success  ? 

To-day  there  are  two  things  which  attract 
genius — fame  and  wealth.  For  years  John  Har- 
rison worked  at  the  chronometer,  wrorked  in  pov- 
erty and  hunger  for  the  prize  of  $100,000  which 
the  British  government  had  offered  for  an  instru- 
ment which  would  tell  longitude  to  within  sixty 
miles.  Under  Socialism  there  will  be  no  prize  of 
wealth  to  tempt  men  to  struggle,  and  the  prin- 
cipal incentive  to  invention  and  special  achieve- 
ment will  be  gone.  There  are  very  great  evils  in 
connection  with  our  present  system  of  competition, 
but  there  are  also  compensations.  The  very  keen- 
ness of  the  rivalry  has  resulted  in  the  development 
of  some  of  the  very  brainiest  men  the  world  has 


40  SOCIALISM 

ever  known.  Under  Socialism  there  will  be  no 
competition  and,  consequently,  no  development  of 
the  very  kind  of  brains  which  have  been  the  vital 
force  in  our  civilization.  The  result  will  be 
stagnation,  then  corruption,  then  death.  It  is  a 
vital  and  a  fatal  weakness  to  the  whole  system. 

4.  One  of  the  most  effective  arguments  Social- 
ists make  in  favor  of  their  plan  is  that  now  the 
country  is  under  the  control  of  trusts  and  a  polit- 
ical ring.  One  would  think  that  they  had  never 
thought  to  figure  out  that  under  their  regime  there 
would  be  a  far  bigger  trust  and  the  greatest  polit- 
ical ring  the  world  could  ever  produce !  The  state 
would  own  and  control  everything.  But  what  is 
the  state  ?  or  who  is  the  state  ?  The  state  is  the 
people,  but  the  people  must  have  individual  repre- 
sentation before  they  can  act.  Some  person  or  per- 
sons must  be  clothed  with  authority.  Under 
Socialism  that  authority  would  be  greater  than 
any  king  or  earthly  potentate  now  has  and  far 
greater  than  any  human  being  ever  should  have. 
Every  industry  would  have  to  be  organized  by  the 
government.  There  would  have  to  be  foremen, 
overseers,  managers,  superintendents,  and  execu- 
tives for  every  farm,  shop,  factory,  store,  or  other 
industry  in  the  country.     There  would  be  higher 


WEAKNESS  OF  SOCIALISM  41 

officers  for  the  counties ;  still  higher  for  the  State, 
and  still  higher  for  the  general  government. 
There  would  have  to  be  wheels  within  wheels  and 
such  a  complex  political  machine  and  such  a  rush 
and  rage  for  office  as  the  world  has  never  seen, 
and  never  should  be  permitted  to  see.  It  would 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  men  to  be  clothed  with 
such  authority  as  generals  have  in  war  times  in 
order  to  assign  men  to  their  various  tasks  and 
compel  men  to  do  disagreeable  things  which  they 
would  not  care  to  do.  If  there  is  "wage-slavery" 
now  there  would  be  a  "work-slavery"  then  a  thou- 
sand times  more  bitter  and  domineering.  To 
secure  these  positions  of  authority  a  political  ring 
would  develop  and  such  a  state  of  rush  for  power 
as  would  soon  lead  to  either  revolution  or  ruin. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Problems  of  Socialism 

These  problems  might,  very  properly,  be 
classed  with  the  weaknesses  of  Socialism,  for 
many  of  them  are  vital  defects  absolutely  prohib- 
iting the  possibility  of  Socialism  ever  coming  into 
power. 

1.  Take  the  matter  of  control.  How  is  the  state 
to  get  control  of  all  the  material  instruments  of 
production  ?     Four  solutions  have  been  suggested. 

First,  that  each  person  quietly  disgorge  and 
turn  everything  he  lias  over  to  the  state.  But  that 
is  no  solution ;  that  is  hopeless  as  humanity  is  now 
constituted. 

Second,  that  the  state  shall  buy  the  property 
from  the  present  owners,  giving  them  compensa- 
tion. There  are  two  fatal  defects  to  that.  First, 
the  state  does  not  have  money  enough  to  do  it,  and 
it  would  hopelessly  involve  the  state  in  financial 
ruin  to  try  to  do  it;  and,  secondly,  if  the  state 
should  do  it,  it  would  thus  create  a  capitalist  class, 
who  would  live  upon  the  money  thus  secured,  and 

that  would  be  as  bad  as  the  present  system. 

42 


PROBLEMS  OF  SOCIALISM  43 

Third,  that  the  state  simply  confiscate  all  the 
property — take  it  red-handed  from  the  present 
owners.  But  the  present  owners  might  fight  for 
their  own,  and  as  Socialists  refuse  to  fight,  how 
could  they  take  the  property  ? 

Fourth,  it  has  recently  been  suggested  that  as 
Socialism  gradually  comes  into  power  laws  be 
passed  making  it  impossible  to  leave  property  to 
relatives  by  will  or  legacy;  that  estates  be  sub- 
jected to  an  inheritance  tax  of  one  third  their 
value,  and  thus,  in  a  few  generations,  the  state 
would  own  everything.  Perhaps  that  is  the  most 
feasible  plan  yet  suggested,  but  there  would  be 
strong  opposition  to  this  from  almost  every  person 
who  has  property  to  leave  to  friends. 

2.  But  a  far  greater  problem  is  the  matter  of 
the  division  of  labor  under  their  regime.  Social- 
ism guarantees  an  education  to  every  young  per- 
son, and,  as  a  rule,  educated  people  do  not 
voluntarily  choose  to  perform  manual  labor.  With 
every  young  man  educated,  with  women  receiving 
equal  pay  with  men  for  equal  work,  who  will  do 
the  actual  manual  labor — the  hard,  disagreeable 
tasks  which  still  must  be  done  ?  Who  would 
choose  to  work  in  the  machine  shop  when  he  wants 
to  work  in  the  office  ?     Who  will  drive  a  team  out 


44  SOCIALISM 

in  the  cold  or  licat  when  he  thinks  he  ought  to  be 
managing  a  department  ?  Who  will  fire  the  fur- 
naces in  the  factory  when  he  thinks  he  ought  to  be 
keeping  the  books  ?  Who  will  work  at  night  at 
some  disagreeable  task  when  he  thinks  he  should 
be  allowed  to  work  by  day  ?  Who  will  dig  the 
sewers  ?  who  work  in  the  mines  ?  who  couple  cars, 
stoke  the  engines,  shovel  snow,  swing  the  sledge, 
clean  the  streets,  wash  the  windows,  feed  the  pigs, 
butcher  the  meat,  tend  the  forge,  wait  on  the 
tables,  or  any  of  the  other  thousand  and  one  neces- 
sary but  unattractive  tasks  ?  There  would  be  a 
thousand  applicants  for  every  pleasant  task  and 
nobody  rushing  in,  offering  to  do  the  hard  tasks. 
The  result  would  be  that  those  in  authority  would 
have  to  assign  tasks  to  people  as  wardens  now  do 
in  our  penitentiaries  and  that  would  bring  on  riot 
and  revolution.  Socialism  is  absolutely  imprac- 
ticable. 

To-day  many  tasks  are  done  because  of  the 
wages  received,  and  persons  are  at  liberty  to  do 
them  or  seek  other  employment.  Socialism  would 
be  abject  slavery  of  the  worst  kind.  It  would 
not  be  very  long  under  Socialism  before  the 
industrial  needs  would  make  it  necessary  for 
the  state  to  move  men  from  city  to  city  to  meet 


PROBLEMS  OF  SOCIALISM  45 

the  demands  of  the  labor  market.  Men  would 
be  compelled  to  go  whether  they  wanted  to  or 
not,  and  the  only  thing  different  from  slavery 
would  be  the  auction  block.  The  theory  of 
Socialism  is  that  all  men  are  equal.  There  is 
a  statement  to  that  effect  also  in  that  famous  docu- 
ment, the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  the 
statement  is  not  true,  nevertheless.  All  men  are 
not  created  equal.  The  real  facts  are  that  no  two 
persons  are  equally  endowed.  Every  man  is 
entitled  to  an  equal  chance  with  every  other  man, 
and  men  should  be  given  a  square  deal;  but  men 
are  not  created  equal.  Some  men  are  studious  and 
some  are  inclined  toward  mechanics;  some  have 
tastes  for  art,  poetry,  music,  and  some  for  farm- 
ing, sailing,  mining;  some  are  diligent,  industri- 
ous, ambitious,  and  some  are  lazy,  shiftless,  indif- 
ferent ;  some  have  ability  and  some  do  not ;  some 
have  gifts  of  leadership  and  organization;  some 
are  followers,  helpless,  and  need  a  guardian. 
These  are  the  actual  facts;  and,  as  another  has 
said,  "Nothing  is  so  unequal  as  the  equal  treat- 
ment of  unequals." 

The  Socialists  began  their  propaganda  with  the 
slogan,  "Equal  compensation  for  all !"  For  a 
number  of  years  they  advocated  equal  wages  no 


46  SOCIALISM 

matter  what  one's  occupation  might  be.  But  now 
they  have  abandoned  the  idea  as  impracticable  and 
visionary.  When  the  German  Socialists  elected 
Liebknecht  the  editor  of  their  paper  "Vorwartz" 
they  gave  him  a  salary  of  $1,800  per  year  and 
paid  the  compositors  on  the  paper  only  $250  per 
year.  Some  of  the  most  rabid  advocates  thought 
they  should  practice  the  principles  of  Socialism 
in  their  own  business.  But  Liebknecht  objected 
to  any  reduction,  saying  he  could  make  far  more 
than  he  was  then  making  by  other  employment,  so 
they  finally  let  the  matter  rest  as  it  was.  It  may 
seem  a  beautiful  theory  to  a  man  who  is  operating 
on  the  earth  with  a  shovel  for  the  making  of  a 
drain  that  he  should  receive  the  same  compensa- 
tion as  the  man  who  is  operating  on  the  intestinal 
canal  with  a  scalpel  for  appendicitis.  But  the 
fact  is  that  one  man  may  command  fifteen  cents 
an  hour  for  his  operation  and  the  other  man  about 
one  hundred  dollars  or  more  an  hour  for  his. 
When  Socialism  attempts  to  give  them  both  the 
same  compensation  the  surgeon  may  refuse  to  be 
a  party  to  the  arrangement.  Some  Socialists  now 
say  that  the  way  they  will  secure  men  to  do  the 
disagreeable  tasks  is  to  permit  them  to  labor 
shorter  hours  than  others,  and  now  they  are  begin- 


PROBLEMS  OF  SOCIALISM  47 

ning  to  admit  that  there  will  also  have  to  be  dif- 
ferent compensations  for  different  tasks.  When 
that  is  admitted  then  the  class  spirit  is  present, 
and  men  will  be  graded  under  Socialism  exactly 
as  they  are  now,  and  the  beautiful  theory  of 
brotherhood  will  be  gone.  So,  this  problem  of 
labor  and  wage,  which  the  Socialists  claim  to  have 
solved  under  their  theory,  still  will  remain  as 
unsolved  as  it  ever  was. 

3.  Another  problem  under  Socialism  is  the 
source  of  capital  for  new  enterprises.  Some  one 
may  answer  very  quickly,  "O,  the  state  will  pro- 
vide all  capital  for  new  enterprises."  But  will  it  ? 
The  state  is  proverbially  slow  and  conservative 
regarding  investments.  The  automobile  industry 
grew  by  leaps  and  bounds  in  this  country  because 
the  inventors  were  able  to  persuade  capital  that 
the  investments  would  be  both  safe  and  profitable. 
It  will  be  another  matter  to  persuade  the  state  to 
finance  new  enterprises.  At  the  present  time 
many  new  industries  fail  and  investors  lose  all  tho 
money  invested.  Under  Socialism  it  would  be  the 
people's  money  that  was  lost,  and  a  few  such  un- 
successful ventures  would  make  the  state  very  con- 
servative. The  whole  tendency,  therefore,  of 
Socialism  would  be  to  discourage  invention  and 


48  SOCIALISM 

manufacture  and  act  as  a  brake  upon  the  wheels 
of  our  civilization. 

Socialists  arc  entirely  unfair  to  present-day 
capitalists.  Their  literature  is  tilled  with  the 
claim  that  all  the  increase  in  value  of  the  finished 
product  over  the  raw  product  belongs  to  labor,  and 
their  arguments  are  based  on  this  false  premise. 
Such  arguments,  of  course,  are  fallacies.  Without 
capital  there  would  be  little  for  labor  to  do,  for 
capital  originates  industries,  thus  making  a 
demand  for  labor.  There  must  first  be  capital  in 
order  to  secure  land,  buildings,  machinery,  raw 
material,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  companies' 
affairs  until  there  are  returns  from  the  sale  of  the 
finished  product.  When  the  raw  material  costs 
$1,000  and  the  finished  product  sells  for  $2,000 
the  additional  $1,000  above  the  cost  of  the  raw 
material  does  not  all  belong  to  labor,  nor  was  it  all 
produced  by  labor.  Part  of  the  increase  was 
earned  by  the  building  where  the  product  was 
made,  part  was  earned  by  the  machinery,  a  part 
by  the  men  who  purchased  the  raw  material,  and 
a  part  by  the  man  who  sold  the  finished  product, 
and  it  is  the  sheerest  nonsense  to  say  that  labor 
produced  it  all.  Only  recently  a  statement  was 
made  by  a  prominent  manufacturer  that  it  cost 


PROBLEMS  OF  SOCIALISM  49 

twice  as  much  to  sell  an  article  as  to  make  it. 
With  the  withdrawal  of  competition  this  cost 
would  be  greatly  reduced,  but  it  would  always  be 
considerable.  It  is  true  that  far  too  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  profits  now  go  to  the  capitalist  and 
too  small  a  share  to  labor;  but  capital  is  entitled 
to  its  share,  for  without  it  there  would  be  no  profit 
any  more  than  there  would  be  without  labor. 
Capital  is  helpless  without  labor,  but  labor  is 
equally  helpless  without  capital.  If  labor  so 
crowds  capital  that  the  prospects  of  investment 
will  not  yield  more  than  government  bonds  or 
banks  will  pay,  then  capitalists  will  not  venture 
into  industry,  and  labor  will  be  helpless.  There  is 
little  prospect  of  new  industry  under  Socialism: 
there  will  neither  be  the  capital  nor  the  motive  to 
venture. 

4.  If  Socialism  ever  should  come  into  powrer, 
the  question  of  supply  and  demand  will  be  a  vex- 
ing one.  Under  our  present  system  the  compet- 
itors create  the  supply  and  then  try  to  create  the 
demand.  There  was  a  need  but  no  demand  for 
matches,  sewing  machines,  plows,  or  automobiles 
until  they  were  made;  then  came  the  public  de- 
mand. These  things  were  and  still  are  made  at 
a  profit,  or  capital  would  be  withdrawn.     Under 


50  SOCIALISM 

Socialism  there  will  be  no  money  to  be  made  in 
new  enterprises ;  so  why  start  any  ?  Yet  the  state 
would  be  under  'obligation  to  furnish  employment 
to  every  person !  The  task  of  supplying  work  for 
a  population  of  100,000,000,  which  soon  will  be 
150,000,000,  is  so  tremendous  that  its  attempt  even 
by  the  government  is  ridiculous.  To-day  people 
freely  move  from  place  to  place  in  search  of  work 
or  better  conditions.  Under  Socialism  the  govern- 
ment would  have  to  sentence  men  to  localities 
where  there  was  work,  whether  they  cared  to  go 
or  not. 

And  if  Socialism  should  prove  to  be  what  its 
advocates  claim,  would  not  the  problem  of  supply 
and  demand  become  more  and  more  complex  ?  If 
every  person  is  freed  from  labor  and  pensioned  at 
sixty,  and  if  all  children  are  guaranteed  an  educa- 
tion and  pleasant  employment  when  grown,  would 
not  the  population  increase  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
and  the  problem  of  employment  simply  swamp  the 
government  ? 


CHAPTER  VII 

Socialism  and  Religion 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  most  of  the  leaders 
of  Socialism  in  this  country  are  either  nonreli- 
gious  or  anti-religious.  A  great  deal  of  their 
literature,  both  books  and  papers,  reeks  with  crit- 
icisms of  the  church  and  clergy,  and  slurs  and 
jeers  at  the  idea  of  waiting  until  you  get  to  heaven 
in  order  to  have  rest  and  pleasure.  Their  writers 
make  no  distinction  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  a  thousand  years  ago  and  present-day 
Protestantism.  Churches  are  spoken  of  as  rich 
men's  clubs,  and  priests  and  ministers  as  stool 
pigeons  of  the  capitalists.  Of  course  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  deny  these  charges  in  toto.  There 
are  35,836,690  church  members  in  the  United 
States,  and  only  a  very  few  people  who  are  rich. 
And  no  one  will  argue  that  all  the  rich  and  mighty 
are  members  of  churches.  It  is  quite  evident, 
then,  to  any  persons  who  will  stop  to  think,  that 
nine  tenths  of  the  church  members  belong  to  the 
middle  and  poorer  classes.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  priests  and 

51 


52  SOCIALISM 

ministers  come  from  the  homes  of  the  middle  and 
poorer  classes.  If  nine  tenths  of  the  church  mem- 
bers and  all  of  the  ministers  belong  to  the  laboring 
classes,  then  why  is  the  church  opposed  to  the 
laborer?  A  few  ministers  and  a  few  churches, 
possibly,  are  wealth-ridden,  but  only  a  very  few. 
The  laboring  classes  have  no  better  friends  than 
ministers  and  churches.  Then  why  do  the  Social- 
ists so  continuously  run  down  the  church  ?  In  the 
platform  of  the  Socialist  party  there  is  a  plank 
which  states  that  Socialism  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  religion.  That  plank  was  inserted  only 
recently,  and  only  after  a  vigorous  debate,  and 
then  only  by  a  majority  of  one  vote.  It  was  done 
in  order  to  silence  the  opposition  of  Christian 
voters  and  as  an  attempt  to  win  Christian  men. 
Most  Socialistic  centers  advertise  and  circulate 
books  and  pamphlets  which  advocate  free  love, 
infidelity,  and  the  abolition  of  the  church.  It  is 
true  that  Socialism  should  not  be  responsible  for 
Socialists;  but  a  tree  is  judged  by  its  fruit.  There 
is  nothing  in  industrial  Socialism  which  neces- 
sarily makes  it  unfavorable  to  religion,  and  the 
sooner  Socialists  learn  that  it  is  wisdom  to  cease 
maligning  the  church  or  slurring  at  religion  the 
sooner  some  of  the  principles  of  government  they 


SOCIALISM  AND  RELIGION  53 

advocate  will  find  acceptance  with  the  people,  and 
become  the  law  of  the  land. 

Many  years  ago  a  pastor  lived  next  door  to  the 
professor  of  French  in  a  university  city.  When 
visiting  over  the  back  yard  fence  the  professor 
inquired  of  the  minister  if  he  had  read  the  book  he 
had  recently  published.  On  being  answered  in 
the  negative  the  professor,  who  spoke  quite  broken 
English,  said:  "Well,  you  must  see  him;  I  tink 
you  lik  him;  I  put  a  leedle  relijun  in;  I  tink  he 
sell  bettar."  Men  are  naturally  religious,  and  any 
propaganda  that  makes  sport  of  the  divine  instinct 
is  destined  to  complete  failure. 

It  is  almost  a  universal  custom  for  the  Socialists 
to  hold  their  meetings  Sunday  evenings,  and  often 
public  addresses  are  delivered  on  street  corners 
and  in  parks  on  Sunday  afternoons.  They  have 
two  stock  arguments  in  defense  of  their  actions. 
First,  that  Sunday  is  the  only  day  the  "poor  work- 
ingman,"  as  they  usually  choose  to  call  him,  is  at 
liberty,  and  that  is  the  only  evening  he  can  be 
reached.  The  second  defense  is  that  Socialism  is 
a  religion,  and  therefore  their  meetings  are  prac- 
tically religious  assemblies.  If  one  will  stand  at 
the  doors  of  any  of  the  theaters  of  any  city  on  any 
evening,  or  even  on  the  street  corners  of  any  public 


54  SOCIALISM 

thoroughfare  any  evening,  and  see  the  throngs  of 
workingmen,  he  will  know  that  the  first  argument 
is  hardly  altogether  true,  for  there  will  be  plenty 
of  workingmen  in  evidence.  Workingmen  are  at 
liberty  plenty  of  evenings  in  the  week  in  most 
cities  and  towns.  Of  the  second  argument,  that 
Socialism  is  a  religion,  little  need  be  said.  Social- 
ism is  intended  to  be  an  industrial  movement  for 
the  bettering  of  the  working  classes.  Many  people 
make  it  all  the  religion  they  have,  but  it  is  no  more 
a  religion  than  the  demand  for  one-cent  postage  is, 
or  the  reduction  of  the  tariff,  or  the  overthrow  of 
the  trusts,  or  many  other  questions  that  are  purely 
economic.  Socialists  use  the  Sabbath  simply  be- 
cause it  is  convenient  and  because  they  are  more  or 
less  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  the  church. 

That  they  are  doing  a  great  wrong  we  stead- 
fastly believe.  The  Sabbath  was  given  for  two 
great  purposes,  namely,  rest  and  worship.  Both 
are  important.  The  physical  man  requires  one; 
the  spiritual  life  demands  the  other  if  it  would 
live.  The  loss  of  the  Sabbath  means  the  loss  of 
the  spiritual  life;  the  loss  of  the  spiritual  life 
means  the  loss  of  the  moral  life;  the  loss  of  the 
moral  life  means  the  wreck  of  character;  for  few 
men  who  cease  attending  a  public  place  for  wor- 


SOCIALISM  AND  REL1GIOX  55 

ship  ever  continue  Scripture-reading  and  prayer. 
When  Socialists  choose  the  Sabbath  as  the  great 
day  for  their  propaganda  meetings  they  are  strik- 
ing a  blow  at  the  foundations  of  our  religious  life 
and  are  helping  wreck  moral  standards.  Good  as 
many  of  the  principles  they  recommend  are,  they 
can  never,  never  be  a  substitute  for  the  religious 
life. 

Many  leading  Socialists  say  unkind  things  con- 
cerning the  Christian  Church,  and  belittle  its  past 
and  present  achievements.  They  are  either  will- 
fully or  ignorantlv  blind  to  what  the  church  has 
done  and  is  doing.  Take  the  matter  of  education 
alone.  When  Christ  came  to  earth  comparatively 
few  people  could  either  read  or  write.  The  church 
has  been  the  mother  of  education,  and  for  hun- 
dreds of  years  the  church  was  about  the  only  source 
of  education,  until  the  state  became  permeated 
with  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Our  public  school 
system  to-day  is  due  entirely  to  the  church,  and 
even  now  the  church  builds  and  endows  the  most 
of  the  seminaries  and  colleges.  Few  working  men 
there  are  who  cannot  read  and  write.  They  owe 
the  blessings  of  the  education  they  have  to  Chris- 
tianity. What  has  the  church  done  for  the  uplift- 
ing of  women  ?    One  needs  simply  to  compare  the 


56  SOCIALISM 

condition  of  women  in  Christian  and  in  non- 
Christian  lands  to  know.  The  teachings  of  the 
church  are  responsible  for  all  the  hospitals, 
asylums,  homes  for  the  insane,  feeble-minded, 
needy;  for  all  orphanages  and  charities.  Xon- 
Christian  countries  do  not  have  them.  Slavery  is 
disappearing  from  the  earth  because  the  world 
is  learning  the  spirit  of  the  Master.  ISTot  every 
member  of  the  church  has  yet  caught  in  its  fullness 
the  mind  of  Christ.  But  there  is  no  other  body 
or  organization  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  has 
so  nearly  approximated  it.  Men  are  learners, 
and  many  are  slow  to  learn ;  but  every  passing 
century  sees  conditions  improving  and  the  world 
seeing  more  clearly  the  true  teachings  of  the  Man 
of  Galilee.  Apelles,  the  artist,  once  went  to 
Rhodes  to  visit  Protogenes  and  found  an  unfin- 
ished canvas  in  the  studio.  Picking  up  a  brush, 
he  completed  the  painting  with  all  of  his  matchless 
skill.  When  Protogenes  returned  and  saw  the 
work  of  art,  he  threw  up  his  hands  and  said, 
"Apelles  has  been  here,  Apelles  has  been  here." 
A  comparison  of  the  conditions  before  the  coming 
of  the  Christ  and  now,  or  of  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  countries,  will  compel  any  fair-minded 
person  to  say,  "Jesus  has  been  here." 


SOCIALISM  AND  RELIGION  57 

The  mistake  of  Socialism  is  that  it  is  an  attempt 
to  make  the  world  better  without  making  men 
better.  Reformers  are  apt  to  forget  that  behind 
the  problems  of  a  better  social  condition  lies  the 
problem  of  the  better  man.  Christ  recognized  the 
fact  that  in  order  to  lift  the  world  he  must  first 
lift  the  individual.  Socialism  is  an  attempt  to 
lift  up  the  individual  by  first  lifting  the  world. 
It  cannot  be  done.  It  is  the  old  attempt  of  the 
man  to  lift  himself  over  the  fence  by  tugging  at 
his  bootstraps.  Why  is  not  the  church,  as  a  whole, 
better,  and  why  do  not  the  members  show  forth 
more  of  the  spirit  of  the  Master  ?  The  trouble  is 
not  with  the  church  but  with  the  individuals  in 
the  church.  In  order  for  the  church  to  be 
better  the  individuals  must  become  better.  That 
is  the  whole  problem.  It  is  a  problem  of  human 
nature.  Socialism  does  not  touch  human  nature. 
Christianity  does.  We  say,  "Corporations  have 
no  souls."  Certainly  not.  The  only  way  to 
reach  the  conscience  of  a  corporation  is  to  reach 
the  individual  men  who  compose  it.  And  the 
only  possible  way  to  better  the  social  conditions 
of  the  world  is  to  first  better  the  life  of  the 
individual  man.  Until  men  get  the  spirit  of 
the  Master   it  is  folly  to  attempt  real  reforma- 


58  SOCIALISM 

tions.  Under  Socialism  there  would  still  be 
sinful  human  nature,  with  jealousy,  selfishness, 
anger,  hatred,  wrath,  fault-finding,  passion,  lust. 
Religion  is  the  only  thing  which  has  ever  con- 
trolled or  eradicated  sin  and  filled  a  life  with  love. 
If  Socialism  ignores  religion  and  treats  it  as  an 
outgrown  superstition,  it  is  missing  the  mark. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  a  fatal  defect.  Not  until 
there  develops  a  Christian  Socialism,  advocated 
by  devout  and  righteous  men,  will  there  be  any 
hope  of  a  real  uplifting  propaganda. 

Socialism  claims  to  have  the  only  solution  of 
the  curse  of  prostitution.  But  has  it  %  Under  its 
regime  women  are  to  receive  equal  pay  with  men 
for  equal  work,  and  every  woman  will  have  some 
work  to  do.  But  even  then  not  every  woman  will 
bo  able  to  dress  in  silks  and  satins,  live  on  straw- 
berries and  cream,  or  -ride  in  an  automobile  all 
day  long.  Plenty  of  women  then,  as  now,  will 
have  to  wash  clothes,  peel  potatoes,  weave  cotton, 
work  in  factories,  roll  cigars,  stand  behind  coun- 
ters, sew,  hem,  darn,  scrub,  and  just  plod,  plod, 
plod,  as  thousands  do  now.  Men  will  have  control 
of  their  own  incomes  then,  and  Socialism  foretells 
incomes  from  four  to  ten  times  as  large  as  now. 
The  thousands  of  women  who  toil  and  plod  under 


SOCIALISM  AND  KELIGIOX  59 

Socialism  will  have  precisely  the  same  tempta- 
tions to  sell  their  virtue  then  as  now.  Prostitution 
will  offer  an  income  then  as  now,  supposedly 
easily  acquired.  Socialists  claim  that  poverty  is 
the  cause  of  most  of  the  prostitution.  The  claim 
cannot  be  proven.  A  recent  investigator  discov- 
ered that  of  two  hundred  inmates  of  houses  of  ill- 
fame,  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  of  them  ac- 
knowledged that  they  lost  their  virtue  and  began 
the  evil  life  through  the  influence  of  the  dance  hall 
and  bad  company.  Twenty  of  them  were  led  into 
ruin  through  liquor,  ten  by  willful  choice,  and 
only  seven  of  the  whole  number  said  they  were 
driven  to  that  mode  of  living  through  the  neces- 
sities of  earning  a  living.  Socialism  will  not  cure 
the  evil.  Nothing  but  the  grace  of  God  in  the  life 
will  cure  the  evil.  Religion,  which  so  many  of  the 
Socialists  spurn  and  scorn,  is  the  only  remedy  for 
the  ills  of  society. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Socialism   and   the   Liquor   Traffic 

The  attitude  of  far  too  many  members  of  the 
Socialistic  party  toward  the  temperance  reform  is 
wholly  unsatisfactory  to  people  interested  in  re- 
form. In  Europe  the  Socialists  are  making  a 
study  of  the  effects  of  the  liquor  traffic  upon  work- 
ingmen,  and  many  of  the  most  prominent  leaders 
are  taking  advanced  ground  in  the  temperance 
propaganda.  Many  individual  members  of  the 
party  in  this  country  are  temperate,  but,  with 
here  and  there  an  exception,  the  leaders  are  more 
or  less  friendly  toward  the  liquor  interests. 

I  know  they  argue  that  they  are  engaged  in  a 
larger  task;  that  their  purpose  is  to  revolutionize 
the  whole  strata  of  society  and  they  cannot  jeop- 
ardize the  larger  reform  by  attempting  a  smaller. 
But  is  it  a  smaller  affair?  Have  the  Socialists 
rightly  measured  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  the 
traffic  is  doing  to  the  workingman  ?  Is  capital 
itself  doing  much  more  to  pauperize  and  degrade 
the  laborer  than  the  open  saloon  ? 

The  Scandinavian  countries  have  been   trying 

60 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  61 

the  Gothenburg  system  with  the  liquor  traffic  and 
South  Carolina  tried  the  dispensary  system,  or 
government  control.  The  Socialists'  scheme  is 
very  similar.  Under  Socialism  the  liquor  traffic 
would  take  its  place  beside  all  other  industries  as 
a  government  business  and  men  would  be  assigned 
to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor,  possibly 
whether  they  cared  to  engage  in  that  labor  or  not ! 
Liquors  would  be  supposedly  pure;  they  would 
certainly  be  plentiful,  and  probably  cheap.  They 
could  be  secured  in  any  quantity  by  anybody  at 
the  government  stores.  The  results  may  be  easily 
imagined.  Drunkenness  would  abound  and  hell 
would  enlarge  herself  to  make  room  for  a  de- 
bauched nation. 

I  know  the  Socialists  argue  that  men  engage  in 
the  white-slave  traffic  and  liquor  business  now 
because  of  the  enormous  profits  and  that  under 
Socialism  all  profits  will  be  removed,  so  then  no 
man  will  care  to  engage  in  the  business.  But  if 
there  is  no  one  who  cares  to  make  and  sell  liquor 
then,  still  human  nature  will  be  the  same  and  there 
will  still  be  thousands  who  will  want  to  buy  and 
drink  it.  That  will  make  it  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  some  one  to  make  it  and  sell  it,  and  as 
no  one  would  be  permitted  to  make  it  and  sell  it 


02  SOCIALISM 

as  a  private  enterprise,  the  government  would 
simply  have  to  go  into  the  business.  Many  Social- 
ists claim  that  poverty  is  the  cause  of  most  of  the 
drunkenness.  Others  claim  that  drunkenness  is  the 
cause  of  most  of  the  poverty.  If  poverty  is  the 
cause  of  most  of  the  drunkenness,  then  only  the 
poor  would  get  drunk.  But  the  facts  do  not  bear 
out  the  statement.  If  the  Socialists  would  smite 
the  liquor  traffic  its  deathblow,  it  would  do  the 
workingman  and  the  nation  its  greatest  good. 

The  most  thoughtful  labor  leaders  of  the  world 
now  are  taking  strong  public  stand  against  the 
liquor  traffic.  Forty  of  the  most  prominent  labor 
leaders  in  the  British  Parliament  are  not  only 
strictly  temperate,  but  the  most  of  them  are  also 
members  of  some  Christian  Church.  John  Burns, 
probably  the  leading  labor  leader  in  England, 
wrote,  "One  half  of  the  problem  of  the  unem- 
ployed in  England  is  caused  by  intemperance." 
John  Mitchell  and  John  B.  Lennon,  two  of  the 
foremost  labor  leaders  in  this  country,  make  tem- 
perance addresses  without  fear.  If  Socialists  have 
the  real  benefit  of  the  laboring  man  at  heart,  the 
first  thing  they  should  attempt  would  be  the  over- 
throw of  the  liquor  traffic,  for  it  is  the  dire  enemy 
of  the  laboring  man  in  the  country. 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  63 

1.  Take  the  matter  of  health  and  longevity. 
Science  is  now  demonstrating  that  alcohol  is  a 
narcotic  and  not  a  stimulant,  and  that  it  has 
absolutely  no  food  value  whatever.  Hon.  R.  P. 
Hobson  says:  "It  is  a  dehydrating,  protoplasmic 
poison  and  its  use  should  be  restricted  the  same  as 
any  other  poisonous  drug."  During  the  Boer  war 
the  English  government  discovered  that  the  low 
vitality  of  its  soldiers  was  due  to  the  use  of  alco- 
hol and  immediately  began  a  movement  that  has 
succeeded  in  making  the  English  army  one  of  the 
most  temperate  in  the  world.  The  German  em- 
peror, alarmed  at  the  raids  of  alcohol,  has  per- 
sonally urged  his  soldiers  and  sailors  to  cease 
drinking  even  beer. 

English  insurance  companies,  investigating  the 
death  rate  of  various  classes  of  people,  have  an- 
nounced that  in  a  group  of 

61,215   average   people 1,000  die  annually 

61,215    total   abstainers 560  die  annually 

61,215   liquor   drinkers 1,642  die  annually 

Or,  in  other  words,  the  death  rate  for  the  three 

classes  is  as  follows : 

Average    death    rate 16.33  to  the  1,000 

Total    abstainers 9.14  to  the  1,000 

Liquor    drinkers 26.82  to  the  1,000 


64  SOCIALISM 

Kansas  is  conceded  to  be  the  driest  State  in  the 
Union.  The  death  rate  there  before  the  advent  of 
prohibition  was  17  to  the  1,000.  Now  it  is  7.5  to 
the  1,000 — the  lowest  in  the  world. 

Perhaps  the  following  table,  which  throws 
much  light  on  the  question  as  to  whether  pro- 
hibition prohibits,  will  also  explain  why  the  death- 
rate  is  so  low  in  Kansas. 

The  figures  in  the  following  table  are  taken 
from  the  Brewers'  Year  Book  of  1911,  and,  there- 
fore, are  not  prejudiced  in  favor  of  temperance. 
In  the  first  column  is  given  the  name  of  the  State 
and  in  the  second  column  the  number  of  gallons 
of  liquor  per  capita  used.  In  the  first  lists  are 
the  prohibition  and  local  option  States.  In  the 
second  list  the  saloon  States: 

Gallons 
I.  Per  Capita. 

Kansas    00 

Oklahoma    00 

North  Carolina 01 

Mississippi    09 

♦Alabama    09 

North    Dakota 1.35 

South    Dakota 1.35 

Georgia    1 .  55 

Tennessee    3.62 

Maine   5.45 

*Wet  since  1911. 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  65 

Gallons 
II.  Per  Capita 

California     16 .  65 

Michigan    17 .  68 

Massachusetts    19.99 

Kentucky    21 .  37 

Indiana    23.89 

Connecticut    24 . 62 

Delaware    26 .  56 

Ohio    29.45 

Pennsylvania   31.91 

Missouri    36.92 

Illinois    39.13 

New  Jersey 39 .  87 

New   York 45.31 

Wisconsin   64 .  51 

When  liquor  advocates  say  that  there  is  more 
liquor  sold  in  prohibition  States  than  in  license 
States,  just  quote  their  own  figures  given  above 
to  prove  their  mistake. 

The  table  below  gives  the  death  rate,  per  thou- 
sand, according  to  Thomas  Oliver,  in  his  Danger- 
ous Trades,  between  various  ages,  showing  the 
destructiveness  of  the  liquor  traffic  on  life. 

25-35  35-45  45-55  55-85 

Tears         Years         Years         Years 

Average  death  rate 7.03        12.4        20.7        36.7 

Brewers'   death   rate 10.8  19.  30.8        54.4 

German  investigators  state  that  eighty  per  cent  of 
the   people  who   die   of   heart-disease   are   liquor 


CG  SOCIALISM 

drinkers.     Alcohol  burns  out  the  sv stern  and  senda 
its  victims  by  a  short  cut  to  the  grave. 

2.  Take  the  matter  of  wages  and  effectiveness. 
Even  the  moderate  use  of  alcohol  makes  a  worker's 
job  insecure  and  reduces  his  ability  to  earn.  In- 
vestigations in  Munich,  Dresden,  and  the  Rhine 
regions  revealed  the  fact  that  after  a  Sunday  spent 
in  drinking  the  workmen  performed  from  fifteen 
to  thirty  per  cent  less  work  than  in  days  near  the 
end  of  the  week,  and,  when  working  piece-work, 
they  lost  considerable  money.  A  large  automobile 
factory  in  Michigan  discovered  that  after  the 
bi-weekly  paydays,  covering  a  period  of  ten 
weeks,  one  hundred  and  ninety  men  lost  $765  in 
wages  through  absence  because  of  drinking  habits, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  money  they  spent  in  the 
saloons  while  drinking.  The  United  States 
Census  Bureau  reports  that  nearly  every  industry 
is  discriminating  against  the  hiring  of  drinking 
men,  as  follows: 

Agriculturists 72  per  cent 

Manufacturers 79  per  cent 

Trades 8S  per  cent 

Railroads 90  per  cent 

When    so    many    employers    are    seeking    sober 
men,  and  when  alcohol  causes  such  harm  to  the 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  67 

laboring  men,  why  do  not  the  Socialists  fight  the 
traffic  ? 

3.  Take  the  number  of  men  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  liquors  to  the  amount  of  capital 
invested,  and  we  find  the  traffic  the  enemv  of 
labor. 

Capital  in  manufacturing  liquors $831,802,000 

Total  capital  all  industries $18,428,270,000 

Wage-earners  employed  in  liquor-making 64,680 

Total  wage-earners  in  United  States 6,615,046 

The  liquor  interests,  therefore,  employ  only  about 
one  per  cent  of  the  labor  of  the  country,  while  they 
have  four  and  five  tenths  per  cent  of  the  capital 
of  the  country.  That  is,  for  the  capital  invested 
they  employ  only  about  one  third  the  number  of 
men  other  industries  do. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  amount  of  raw 
material  used  by  the  liquor-makers.  The  follow- 
ing tables  tell  the  story: 

Raw  materials  used  by  liquor-makers...  $139,199,000 
Raw  material  produced  in  United  States.     12,141,791,000 

Liquor  interests  use  1.14  per  cent. 

Farm  produce  used  by  liquor-makers $50,000,000 

Total  value  farm  produce  iu  United  States  4,071,000,000 

Liquor  interests  use  1.007  per  cent. 

In  other  words,  if  the  whole  business  were  wiped 
out,  only  a  little  over  one  per  cent  of  the  farm 


OS  SOCIALISM 

produce  and  raw  material  of  the  country  would 
be  affected.  Liquor  dealers  have  been  making 
much  ado  about  nothing. 

The  liquor  dealers  employ  fewer  men  for  the 
capital  invested  than  almost  any  other  industry. 
The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  men 
employed  in  various  industries  for  every  million 
dollars'  worth  of  capital  invested: 

Breweries  and  distilleries 96  persons 

Paper  and  printing 439  persons 

Iron  and   steel 496  persons 

Textile    factories 578  persons 

Leather   goods 580  persons 

Lumber   and    manufactures 726  persons 

Vehicles  and  land  transportation 858  persons 

Women's   clothing 1,563  persons 

Car  construction  shops 1,612  persons 

Not  only  do  they  employ  the  fewest  men  for  the 
capital  invested,  but  they  pay  over  to  the  men  in 
wages  the  smallest  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of 
the  product,  as  the  following  table  shows : 

Liquors  and   beverages 9.01  per  cent 

Leather    goods 16.53  per  cent 

Paper  and  printing 21.64  per  cent 

Iron  and  steel  products 22.16  per  cent 

Furniture    27.25  per  cent 

Lumber  and  remanufactures 27.46  per  cent 

Stoves  and   furnaces 29.25  per  cent 

Vehicles    34.45  per  cent 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  69 

Socialists  arc  fighting  because  the  laborer  does  not 
receive  the  total  product  of  his  labor.  Then  why 
not  fight  the  liquor  traffic,  which  is  the  worst 
sinner  of  all  ?  The  city  of  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin, 
is  one  of  the  greatest  liquor-manufacturing  centers 
in  the  country.  A  few  facts  about  the  industry 
there  will  be  interesting.  In  the  three  columns 
below  I  give,  first,  the  capital  invested;  second, 
the  number  of  men  employed ;  and,  third,  the  per- 
cent of  the  value  of  the  product  paid  out  in  wages : 

12  3 

Liquor-making $51,000,000        4,755       6.6  per  cent 

All  other  industries    185,358,011     104,461     34.8  per  cent 

With  more  than  one  fifth  of  the  total  capital 
invested,  the  liquor  interests  employ  fewer  than 
one  twenty-third  the  number  of  men  and  pay  less 
than  one  fifth  the  per  cent  in  wages.  In  other 
words,  if  the  $51,000,000  now  invested  in  liquor- 
making  in  Milwaukee  were  transferred  to  some 
other  line  of  industry,  the  city  would  be  employ- 
ing 25,000  more  men  and  be  receiving  more  than 
$20,000,000  per  year  in  wages.  When  Milwaukee 
goes  dry  then  will  the  city  really  prosper. 

4.  The  liquor  business  is  a  curse  to  general  pros- 
perity. Every  social  service  worker  acknowledges 
that  from  seventy-five  per  cent  to  eighty-five  per 


70  SOCIALISM 

cent  of  the  poverty  and  crime  is  traceable  to  the 
traffic. 

In  dry  Kansas,  with  her  105  counties,  there  are 
53  where  there  is  not  a  single'  inmate  in  the  county 
jail;  65  counties  have  no  criminals  in  the  State 
penal  institutions;  87  have  no  insane,  and  54  no 
feeble-minded. 

Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  is  a  great  liquor  city. 
Perhaps  that  is  why  the  per  capita  wealth  of  the 
State  is  only  $300,  while  the  per  capita  wealth  of 
Kansas  is  $1,700.  The  per  capita  savings  in  the 
State  of  Maine  amount  to  $181.15,  a  sum  larger 
than  in  almost  any  other  State.  The  liquor  traffic 
is  a  curse  to  the  nation  and  the  bitterest  enemy  of 
the  workingman.  It  saps  his  strength,  shortens 
his  life,  causes  him  to  waste  his  time  and  squander 
his  wages;  it  employs  the  fewest  men  and  pays 
back  the  smallest  per  cent  in  wages;  it  loads  the 
country  with  criminals  and  paupers,  and  increases 
taxes  thereby.  If  Socialism  in  the  United  States 
is  a  scheme  for  helping  the  toiler,  it  can  prove  it 
nowhere  more  effectively  than  by  putting  a  pro- 
hibition plank  in  its  platform  and  fighting  squarely 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  greatest  curse  that  ever 
blighted  the  human  race. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Future  of  Socialism 

What  of  the  future  ?  What  will  be  the  out- 
come of  the  socialistic  movement  ?  Before  that 
question  can  be  answered  we  must  answer  another, 
namely,  Why  is  there  a  socialistic  movement  ?  An 
eminent  judge  of  the  Appellate  Division  of  Xew 
York's  Supreme  Court  (Judge  Wesley  D.  How- 
ard), addressing  a  group  of  law  students  recently, 
said: 

The  hugest  fortunes,  and,  in  many  instances,  the  most 
abject  poverty  of  all  ages  exist  in  this  country— colossal 
corporations  more  powerful  and  wealthy  than  ancient 
kingdoms  were,  gigantic  combinations  and  trusts,  under 
the  command  of  one  individual,  with  more  men  and 
money  than  Athens  had  at  the  battle  of  Marathon.  And 
children  are  toiling  in  canneries  and  families  are  huddled 
in  dark  basements,  farms  go  uncultivated,  and  the  cost 
of  living  becomes  appalling.  And  our  laws  tolerate  it. 
.  .  .  The  people  are  becoming  impatient  with  these 
discrepancies  in  justice,  and  they  are  demanding  each 
day  in  a  louder  voice  that  there  be  reforms. 

Xo  one  can  truthfully  say  that  the  Judge  has 
exaggerated  the  conditions.  Socialism  is  a  move- 
ment among  the  working  classes  to  try  and  right 

71 


72  SOCIALISM 

these  great  wrongs.  As  long  as  there  are  combina- 
tions for  the  restraint  of  trade;  as  long  as  there 
are  jugglings  in  the  stock  market  and  watering 
of  stocks  that  demand  enormous  dividends;  as 
long  as  there  is  grinding  of  wages  and  swelling  of 
profits ;  as  long  as  children  must  toil  to  live 
and  die  as  they  toil ;  as  long  as  women  are  under- 
paid; as  long  as  sweatshops  suck  lifeblood  and 
corporations  oppress  the  poor,  so  long  will  there 
be  a  socialistic  movement  or  something  closely 
akin  to  it.  Every  time  capital  becomes  arro- 
gant, or  wages  are  cut  without  real  reason;  every 
time  a  labor  union  is  broken  by  the  high  hand  of 
the  money  power;  every  time  a  man  must  send  his 
wife  or  child  to  the  shop  or  mill  to  help  furnish 
the  necessities  of  life  which  he  is  not  able  to 
supply,  a  Socialist  is  born.  And  its  tremendous 
growth  is  proof  enough  that  there  is  a  reason  for 
its  being. 

It  is  evident,  however,  from  a  study  of  its  propa- 
ganda, that  it  can  never  be  realized  in  all  its  full- 
ness.  It  is  visionary,  impractical,  impossible,  and 
there  are  problems  insoluble.  Yet,  it  is  also  evi- 
dent that  many  of  its  proposed  reforms  are  needed. 
The  state,  or  the  people,  now  own  the  lakes,  rivers, 
roads,  army,  navy,  post  offices,  public  schools,  and 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SOCIALISM        73 

many  buildings  used  for  public  purposes.  More 
and  more  the  people  will  insist  upon  the  public 
ownership  of  things  with  which  all  the  public  has 
to  do.  After  a  long  struggle  the  post  office  depart- 
ment is  authorized  to  carry  packages,  and  the 
express  monopoly  will  soon  be  abolished,  as  it 
should  be.  Cities  and  towns  will  demand  publicly 
owned  and  operated  water,  gas,  and  electric  plants. 
Already  the  demand  is  heard  for  public  owner- 
ship of  telephone  and  telegraph  systems.  Every 
monopoly  dies  hard,  but  many  are  marked  for 
death.  Cities  and  towns  are  seeking  ownership 
of  street-car  service  rights.     That  must  come. 

Then  later  will  come  the  government  ownership 
of  railroads  and  transportation  companies,  as  there 
now  is  in  Belgium  and  Switzerland.  The  struggle 
will  be  long  and  bitter ;  but  it  is  inevitable.  Be- 
fore long  the  authorities  will  be  prohibited  from 
giving  away  mining  rights  with  land  sales  or  gifts. 
Surface  rights  in  land  for  farming,  homes  or  in- 
dustrial uses  are  all  any  government  should  sell. 
The  riches  in  oil,  gas,  coal,  iron,  gold,  or  silver 
belong  to  all  the  people  and  should  not  be  sold  for 
a  song  to  individuals.  We  have  bureaus  n,ow  en- 
gaged in  digging  canals,  building  warships,  en- 
larging harbors,  erecting  buildings,  and  in  various 


U  SOCIALISM 

other  forms  of  industry.  Why  should  not  an- 
other such  bureau  develop  the  mining  resources 
of  Alaska  ?  Pennsylvania's  oil  and  coal,  Mich- 
igan's iron  and  copper,  Minnesota's  iron,  Colo- 
rado's silver  and  gold  belong  to  all  the  people  and 
should  not  have  been  turned  over  to  individuals 
or  corporations.  Development  and  enlargement 
would  be  much  slower  under  government  con- 
trol, but  the  people  would  have  their  own.  In 
some  far-distant  future  the  government  may 
build  a  few  factories  for  the  manufacture  of 
staple  articles,  such  as  stoves,  furniture,  or  crock- 
ery, to  serve  as  models  in  hours  of  labor,  wages, 
and  general  conditions,  and  to  set  the  price  of  the 
commodity.  For  the  same  reasons  it  may  establish 
a  few  general  stores ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  gov- 
ernment will  ever  enter  largely  into  either  manu- 
facturing or  retail  business.  The  time  is  probably 
coming  when  the  state  will  prevent,  by  law,  any 
one  person  from  accumulating  a  fortune  running 
into  millions.  While  thousands  of  persons  aro 
suffering  for  the  necessities  of  life  no  one  person 
should  be  permitted  to  hoard  wealth.  The  spirit 
of  brotherhood  is  becoming  stronger ;  the  message 
of  the  Christ  is  being  listened  to  as  never  before. 
As  long  as  there  are  persons  who  are  very,  very 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SOCIALISM        75 

poor  no  persons  should  be  very,  very  rich  when  the 
poverty  or  the  riches  are  preventable.  We  do  not 
advocate  communism — a  division  of  wealth — but 
the  poor  should  be  given  an  opportunity  to  work 
at  a  liberal  wage.  Thousands  of  men  are  unem- 
ployed. Idle  men  are  a  menace  to  civilization. 
Would  it  not  be  a  wise  measure  for  the  government 
to  undertake  the  opening  of  some  mines  in  Alaska, 
or  some  new  irrigating  scheme  in  the  Western 
territory,  or  the  cultivation  of  some  of  its  vacant 
lands  %  Men  who  want  work  should  be  furnished 
labor.  Men  who  will  not  work  should  be  com- 
pelled to  labor.     Idleness  is  demoralization. 

To  sum  up:  A  sane  and  righteous  socialistic 
movement  in  the  United  States  will  probably  bring 
about  government  ownership  of  the  larger  public 
utilities,  conservation  of  the  public  wealth,  and  the 
reduction  of  both  dire  poverty  and  fabulous  wealth. 

If  Socialism  shall  aid  in  any  way  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  needed  things,  it  will  have 
played  its  part  in  the  great  struggle  of  the  human 
race  toward  its  ultimate  earthly  goal. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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